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Saturday, September 24, 2011

It’s been a while since posting, when I have to work a full 40 hours, I am just too tired to do anything worth blogging about.

Going back to last Sunday, I must mention that Gypsy (On the Road Again) came for a visit. Of course she got the tour and liked “My Spot'’. We got caught up on what went on this summer since the last lime we met and what our plans are for the near future.

Wow, Time just flies when you let life just happen. Yesterday, Friday, I had an appointment to have some work done one my truck. When we went to the Empire Mine near Nevada City, the blower for the A/C stopped. There was still cold air, so the compressor still worked, thank God for small favors! Last week I finally found someone that wouldn’t charge and arm and a leg to figure out what was wrong. The dealer would charge $134.00 just to diagnose what it was. Not going there! So, last Friday, I went over to “Your Neighborhood Garage” in Rancho Cordova where Carl, Jesse’s electrical guy took a look ( no charge) and thought that it was probably the ignition’s electrical switch. Later on while I was out an about, I got a call from Carl. He had been checking out records and said that 8 out o 10 times that replacing that part would fix it, so if I wanted, I could purchase the part from the dealer directly to save some time, replacing it would probably take about an hour. That’s exactly what it was and how long it took. I would recommend “Your Neighborhood Garage” to anyone. He just charges for parts and labor and is knowledgeable and friendly.

From there Angel and I went out to the DMV in Folsom to drop off the license plates for the KIA Sedona that I no longer have. Who knows why they sent them to me! Then I did a bit of grocery shopping at WinCo.

I also stopped at Folsom Lake RV to ask a question. I went in with Angel and left my purse and locked the truck. While there I decided to get the electrical adapters. (Ted has a 20 amp generator for our trip to Pismo Beach) Of course I had to go get my wallet, but I did a dumb thing. Not realizing it, I set my keys down on the seat and locked the truck again. Fortunately, I have Coach Net. One of the fellas at FLRV called them for me. There would be no charge and they would be out in about an hour. Gee, that’s a dangerous place to leave me for a whole hour with everything RV. I restrained myself, Derek brought me a cappuccino, I tested out one of those 0 gravity chairs and only a half hour later my truck was unlocked and I was on my way. This was the first time that I have used Coach Net and I was definitely impressed with their service. After all that we went home and the rest of day we didn’t do much of anything.

I am trying to come up with a way to keep things from popping out of some small shelves while towing. The spring type rods are too big, I’m experimenting to make something that will do the same thing. Today, I ran around looking for maybe thin wood to cut down or foam core board to cut to size.

I went out to IKEA to get an LED floor lamp to use instead of the overhead lights. That’s another dangerous place for me. I always check out the “as is” room. I have gotten some really good deals there, just a pillow and pillow covers this time. Has any one out there used rugs on top of there carpets? I was thinking about putting carpet down to help keep the carpeting clean the one on top could be taken out to clean rather than risk getting the sub flooring wet. Any thoughts?

I had every intention on washing the truck this afternoon, but didn’t, maybe next week. Now it is late and time to go to bed.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

First of all I would like to remember all the families that lost loved ones ten years ago on 9-11-01. I pray for all of you and those who responded to that horrific disaster.

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This weekend has been a slow one for me.I haven’t done much. I did move some containers from the basement into the shed to get some weight out for when we go to Pismo Beach. Saturday we went up to High Hill Farm on Apple Hill just east of Placerville CA. I have holding on to some blown out goose eggs for several years that I was going to give to an artist there. Every time that I went there I had forgotten them. What’s weird was that when I got there, she no longer has the booth. Oh No! Now what? So off I went looking at all the other vendors there. Then this lady came looking for me to tell me that Dorrie, that’s the lady that does the eggs had come up for the day. Wow what a coincidence. I searched her out and gave her the eggs. It seems that with the economy she only does them out of here home now.

The other reason to go up there was to get one of there Apple Pies, Yuummm. That I did, but now I would have to share it, I’m not about to eat a whole pie by my self. That is exactly what I did today after church The newlyweds, Karen and Pat came over to check out My Spot.

The rest of the day I have been reading, catching up on blogs and listening to all the jets flying over and the “bombs” going off. The Capital Air Show was going on this weekend about a mile and a half from the RV Park.

I will have to get to bed a little bit earlier tonight, because I start my new shift at work tomorrow (it’s a half hour earlier than what I have now).

That’s about it for now. I hope that you all have a better week coming up and that those effected by the floods get dried out soon.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

“Old Sac” wasn’t enough, Road Trip! John and I decided to go to visit the Empire Gold Mine State Park in Grass Valley on Hwy 49 north of I 80.

Inside the Visitor’s Center they even have water available for dogs who visit.

There were two tours that we went on. This is the actual Mine Tour. This is the shaft that the miners would ride down. It has since filled with up to the natural water table after it was closed, no longer producing gold. They say that 80% of the gold is still there.

John is standing in front of one of the shafts that Mr. Bourne the owner would take his guests to show them “The Mine”, so that he wouldn’t have to take them to the real one. They were satisfied so they would go back to “The Cottage” and their other activities.

The other tour is the Cottage Tour. How would you like to live here. Mrs. Bourne preferred living in their home in Napa. With the mine going 24/7, it was too noisy and dirty. This cottage cost them $25,000. to build back then. You can probably multiply that by 20 for today’s prices.

The rooms and the grounds are beautiful.

This is how Angel got around when we went inside.

We enjoyed these tours too. There was a lot of walking and a lot of it was up hill. I really got my exercise. After looking at displays in the visitors center, we decided to go find Cousin Jack’s to try the typical Cornish miner’s meal, pasties. I had been there before and liked what I had then. John had the Chicken Combo with Chili and I had the Greek Jenny with Spinach and Artichoke Hearts. mine was good and John liked his too. Angel sure does like the dog biscuits.

Another great day. Home from here and early to bed. We both have to get up early.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The third day of my holiday weekend was one of chores, more research and blog catch up. It had been awhile since I sanitized My Spot with my steam cleaner, so that and vacuuming one end to the other occupied my morning and early afternoon. Later John came over to help me with a telescoping flagpole. A couple of pieces are stuck. We also made plans to do something together on Sunday.

After church on Sunday, we went down to Old Sacramento. Earlier in the day John went down there to see if he could get tickets for the Sacrament River Cruise for later in the day. Success! He got tickets for the 5:00pm cruise.

This was the weekend that Sacramento celebrates Gold Rush Days in “Old Sac”. There are no motorized vehicles. They cover streets with dirt and there are only horses, mules, wagons,stage coaches, gun fights and people in period costumes. We went down a little bit early so that we could get something to eat and experience Sacramento’s “glory days”.

We had just enough time to get some clam chowder bread bowls before we boarded for the cruise.

Leaving the dock passing the Delta King. Looking back at the dock.

The Delta King is permanently moored and is now a hotel and restaurant with meeting rooms for special events.

It was an hour long with a nice history “lesson”, going north passing a few sunken boats, Discovery Park, the old and new Water treatment Centers, the Sea Scout Training Center and all the way past several restaurants along the river including the Virgin Sturgeon. Some of the other structures that we passed were the swing out railroad/auto bridge that was opened especially for our ship.

Along the way. there were all kinds of people in boats and wave runners showing off, jumping wakes and spraying the big boat.

One guy lost his hat and circled back to retrieve it before it sank. There were fishermen with a regular umbrella for shade. It was really hot.

We chose to stay in the air conditioning for a while and then went outside in the shade for the return trip. Just before we docked you can see the Tower Bridge, one element of Sacramento’s skyline.

John was checking out how the Captain “parked” the ship at the dock moving sideways. All in all, it was a very informative trip. I had ben on the trip before and still learned more about Sacramento history.

After the cruise we went on board the Delta King to relax and have a drink in the bar/grill. The Delta King’s sister ship, the Delta Queen, until recently was moved via the Panama Canal to ply the waters of the Mississippi River. On the way back to the truck we just had to go through a couple of shops. It was fun and interesting and we both enjoyed our Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for coming along with

Susan and Company (John took Angel’s place) Thank you, John, for a great afternoon!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Monday, normal, Tuesday, hour and a half training-off the phones, Wednesday, they decorated my desk and signed a birthday card.

I took Thursday off for my BD. I didn’t have too much planned except for an early dinner with a friend, Kyle. We met at Rubio’s and had Chipotle Shrimp Salad and ate out on the patio where even Angel could come.

Earlier in the day I did a few errands and got a written quote from Holley Generators for installing a 5500 Onan Generator. Wow, it isn’t cheap. I also tried finding somewhere locally to install Solar. More choices. Generator, (will always have to have to be able to get fuel just to keep the batteries charged) or go with solar and of course follow the sun which I intend on doing anyway (and have a small generator to charge them only when I have to). What ever I do has to be while I am still working.

On Friday, a road trip was the order of the day. I made some of my trail mix mini muffins to bring to the friends that I would be visiting at Dillon Beach. I made a picnic lunch of an egg salad sandwich and was on the road by 9:30am. I arrived at Lawson’s Landing about two hours later. This was the first time that I had actually gone in, I knew where it was but never wanted to spend the $8.00 for the day use pass. After paying at the gate I began searching for Renate and Kevin. There are no sites set up, all boondocking, park your rig or tent wherever you want. They belong to a car club that goes there every Labor Day weekend. Someone gets there the Monday before and lays out some caution tape to claim their spot. Every day another rig or tent comes in and sets up and pretty soon the whole group is there. They leave the center open for games and socializing, Modern day of “circling the wagons”. There are a few people there that sell their wares. I bought a telescoping flagpole and a windsock. Later I bought some wind chimes to hang from my awning.

Renate and I drove over to the pier where some people were throwing out crabbing nets, although no one had caught any while we were there. There were a lot of birds hanging around, mostly gulls and pelicans. I took a few pictures, not too many turned out good.

Angel’s not crazy about the water, forgot all about it when she figured that she could get up close and personal with a gull. It was funny to watch. Of course, she never even came close,but not for the want of trying.

We stayed until about 3:30 when the fog started to roll in. I made good time until I got on Hwy 12 where nothing was moving. There must have been an accident. I saw an ambulance and police. The only movement there was, was when people would do a turn out and go back to find another route to wherever they needed to go. It took at least an hour to get to I80. Even there it was not moving very fast with all the holiday traffic. I was able to check out the traffic on my I pad. It showed red off and on all the way to where Hwy 50 splits off in West Sacramento, so I was expecting it. That 2 hour trip took over 4 hours. Boy, was I tired. Lesson learned, never travel on a holiday, get there early or stay put until it is over.